A/N : Here we go with a long-ish chapter of this fic. Thanx to SpIkEs AnGeL, Rachel, burningfairy, fashiongrrl, Lolly6, Aleesha, SlayGal, that annoying irish kid, JL4eva - for the reviews on chapter 13. Oh, and you may want to have breathing apparatus and anti-fainting devices on standby for later, I think you'll realise why when you read it...

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 14 : Like Sister And Brother - 8th&9th November 2003

We'd spent several hours getting to know each other all over again, me and Willow and Spike. We found out how he'd loved living with his grandparents in England but he'd always wondered what it'd be like to be in his real home with us. He'd rebelled somewhat as he'd got older, as much as he loved his grandparents, he began to resent the fact he never knew his father properly, or his sister. The rebellion meant a lot of leather and bleach and attitude, and so it explained why the picture of the fourteen year old that we thought was our brother looked so different to the man that sat with us now. By lunchtime I had managed to get dressed and was feeling a whole lot better than I had been when I woke up. The whole family was doing a distinctly family thing in the afternoon, sitting around talking, reminiscing and looking at old photographs, when suddenly...

There was a knock on the door and Giles moved from the armchair to answer it, as his wife and children were far too engrossed in the pictures and the conversation. He smiled to himself as he glanced at them. His family; Joyce in the other armchair across the room, and William, who he must now learn to call Spike, in the centre of the sofa, his arms over the back behind Willow and Buffy, as everyone laughed. He loved that they were all back together like this and all looking so happy.

"Ah, Riley" Giles greeted the young man on the other side of the door, "Do come in" he invited moving aside to let Buffy's boyfriend into the house.

"Thanks, Mr Giles" Riley nodded, "I sort of need to talk to Buffy..." he trailed off as he looked into the living room and saw said girl laughing with a guy, a guy who had his arm around her.

"Oh, I didn't know you had company" Riley forced a smile despite the fact he hated seeing his girlfriend so close to another man. Last night had been bad enough, he couldn't seem to do anything right as Buffy got more and more inebriated and now...

"Riley" Buffy herself interrupted the boy's train of thought as she moved from her place on the sofa and came to talk to him, she dragged him into the dining room when she noticed her family, most specifically Spike it seemed, were watching her like hawks.

"Who is that guy?" the young man demanded as soon as they were in the next room.

"His name is Spike" Buffy told the irate boy, quite annoyed by him still, "and why does it matter anyway?" she asked, despite the fact it would have caused less of a problem just to say, 'he's my brother' but part of her just didn't want to admit that.

"I thought we had something Buffy" Riley shook his head, "I thought we were in love, but then last night it's like you can't stand the sight of me and today I come around and find you with another man"

"I was not with another man" she protested, "I was just talking and laughing"

"And he had his arm around you" Riley pointed out as Buffy thought to herself 'Possessive, much?' Yet another of Mr Finn's annoying traits was suddenly showing and Buffy was beginning to notice just how long the list really was.

"Riley" she sighed, eventually, "you really want to know who he is? Well, his real name is William Giles"

"Giles?" the boy echoed, "You mean, as in William, your brother?"

"Yes, William Giles" she agreed, unable to say outloud that he was her sibling. It felt wrong in her head and she knew it would feel even worse coming out of her mouth.

Riley sighed and shook his head before making Buffy jump by wrapping her up in a suffocating hug.

"I'm sorry I doubted you sweetie" he told her, "I'm an idiot"

'Starting to believe that' a voice in Buffy's head sang, she tried to ignore it.

"It's okay" the blonde shrugged when her boyfriend finally released her, "and I'm sorry if I was off with you last night, it was the punch, someone must have spiked it" she explained, and Riley just nodded in response, before telling her his actual reason for coming over was to make sure she was okay after the drunken-ness.

"I was mad that you'd treat me like that but when Xander told me you'd gone home in such a mess I was worried" he told Buffy, advancing on her again.

"I'm fine" she half smiled as he hugged her again and then moved to kiss her. His lips hit hers, right when Spike entered the room.

"So, this is little sis' bloke then is it?" he said somewhat icily as he observed the boy who was trying to get his tongue into Buffy's mouth. Said girl pushed her boyfriend away and went bright red.

"I'm Riley Finn" he introduced himself, shaking hands with Spike.

"William Giles" came the bleach blonds own introduction, "but call me Spike, everyone does"

"I meant to ask about that" Buffy piped up, "Why do people call you Spike?"

"Long story, pet" he smirked as he passed through into the kitchen, making Buffy wonder why he didn't take the other route which would have meant not interrupting her boyfriend kissage.

"I should get going" Riley told his girlfriend, leaning down to kiss her goodbye, she turned her head and he got her cheek but didn't say anything about it. Buffy let out a sigh when he was finally gone. Why did he annoy her so much lately? Maybe she'd been fooled into liking him by his good looks, underneath that was a decent but completely boring and annoyingly possessive boyfriend that she was beginning to wonder if she liked that much after all.

"Your boy already gone?" Spike asked as he returned from the kitchen, passing by the front door on which Buffy's back was leaning.

"Yes, Riley has gone" she told him, with a further sigh as she wondered, why couldn't Riley look like Spike? 'No Buffy, bad thoughts about the guy that is supposed to be your brother!' she reprimanded herself and Spike frowned as he noticed the strange look on her face as her subconscious voices battled it out.

"You okay, luv?" he checked and she snapped out of it as his hand landed on her shoulder.

"Er, yeah" she stammered, smiling nervously, the way he was looking at her right now...he couldn't read minds, could he? She pushed all those kind of thoughts from her head just in case and the pair headed back into the living room, the afternoon soon returning to the way it had been before Riley showed up

It started to get late and everyone, most especially the girls, began yawning every five minutes, no wonder since it was past midnight and they hadn't even noticed.

"I'm going to bed" Buffy sighed, heading for the stairs but her mother stopped her.

"Hold on, sweetheart" she called to her, "I need you and Willow to share a room for a while whilst William, sorry, whilst Spike is here"

"Why?" Buffy frowned, her tired mind not calculating too well that the amount of people in the house now did not tally with the number of bedrooms.

"Well, he slept on the couch last night because of the state you were in but we can't very well expect him to be without a bed semi-permanently" her mother pointed out.

"It's fine Joyce, honestly" Spike shrugged "I'm okay with the couch, the girls shouldn't have to share at their age"

"I don't mind sharing" Willow assured her brother, "I mean, you should have a bed, and me and Buffy both have doubles so we can share and you can take the other one"

"That's sweet, princess" Spike smiled at his adorable sister "but what if Buffy doesn't want to share" he reminded her, causing everyone to look to the blonde.

"I don't mind" she shrugged and shook her head to emphasise her point, trying not to look directly at Spike whose eyes bored into her in a discomforting way.

"Then thankyou" he said to her, before turning to the entire room "you're very kind"

"You're part of this family William" Giles smiled, placing a hand on the younger mans shoulder "it is not a case of being kind, simply a case of doing what is right and proper". Everyone present saw the guilt there in the older man's eyes as he tried to communicate a silent apology to his son for all those times he had not done what was 'right and proper' when Spike was just a child.

It was two in the morning, and Buffy couldn't sleep. It wasn't because she was sharing a bed. Herself and Willow often fell asleep in the same bed as they talked and laughed at what their parents considered an unreasonable hour. No, it was thoughts of Spike that kept her from sleeping. Thoughts of him being in the next room, in her bed, and very possibly naked. If she saw him as the brother he was supposed to be it would be weird as hell, but seeing him in this frightening light of attractive as she did, well, sleep just wasn't happening due to some mental pictures she wished she could block.

Usually when she couldn't fall asleep, Buffy read one of the books she kept by her bed. She was pretty sure she could get away with turning on the lamp and not waking her sister, since Willow was sound asleep to the point of snoring like some kind of wild animal and nothing, with the possible exception of an atomic bomb, could wake her when she was like that.

Unfortunately, Buffy's books were kept in the cabinet by her own bed and not this one. If she wished to read she would have to fetch a book and that meant crossing a line, not just the physical threshold between the room she now slept in and her own room where Spike slept, but also some kind of metaphorical line since she would kind of be invading his privacy.

'But it's my room' she defended herself silently, 'why shouldn't I go in there and fetch my books?' She knew damn well why, but she did it anyway.

Creeping into her own bedroom via the adjoining door, Buffy ran her hand along the wall and tried to keep her balance as she silently tip-toed across the peach carpet. The curtains were not fully closed and a shaft of moonlight shone in through the window, like a spotlight on the bed that was Buffy's own, but tonight it was Spike that slept there. Buffy shoved her hand over her mouth and tried not to gasp too loudly as she noticed she was probably right in her earlier thoughts. Spike did sleep with nothing on, she realised, as she noted the thin cream-coloured sheet that rode low across his hips, leaving little to the imagination. The moonlight shone off every beautiful angle of his face and chest. Illuminated in the silver light, so still and quiet and barely breathing he might have been dead. She had no idea that he wasn't even sleeping...

Closing her eyes for a brief second and steeling herself against thoughts that were not of the good, Buffy moved quietly toward the bed-side unit. The hinge creaked ever so slightly as she opened the door, sounding ten times louder than it normally would, just because she was trying to be quiet. Inside of the cabinet was even blacker than the room, and Buffy squinted to see the books on the shelf inside. Reaching her hand in to pull out the volumes she wanted, she misjudged the distance and sent one lone book toppling out onto the floor next to her as she knelt there beside the bed. There was a thump as it landed and her eyes immediately shot over to look at Spike. He shifted position so he was facing her, but his eyes were still closed, he still slept she was sure...she was wrong.

As silence reigned, Buffy silently sighed and moved to retrieve the fallen book by her side. Immediately a hand shot out of the bed and grabbed her wrist. She turned and her hazel eyes met bright blue ones. She couldn't breathe.

"What are you doing, pet?" Spike asked her with just a hint of a smirk.

Swallowing hard, Buffy attempted to find her voice. She thought looking away from Spike's gaze would help but her eyes moved down his body and that only made things worse. His fingers around her wrist felt like they were burning her, but she didn't pull her hand away.

"I can't sleep" she forced out, eyes closed because it was safer "I was looking for a book to read"

When he didn't answer she opened her eyes again and was surprised to see him smile as he finally let her wrist go.

"Want some help?" he offered with a tilt of his head and Buffy shook her head as she reminded herself what she'd been doing in there in the first place. The book. She went back to the cabinet to look and remembered she couldn't see what she was doing.

"That better?" Spike asked her, an orange glow capturing them both and the corner of the room as he turned on the lamp. The shifting of his body to turn on the light had made the sheet move, she knew, and Buffy was far too afraid to turn her head.

"Thanks" she mumbled, head in the cupboard, finally she emerged with the book, got up and turned fast, practically running from the room "Got it. Goodnight" she called in a whisper as she disappeared.

"'Night, luv" Spike smirked as he turned out the light and lie down again. She was a sweet girl, but he was glad they weren't really related. If they were, he was pretty sure he'd get locked up for the things he thought about her, hell, he could probably get locked up for thinking some of them anyway!

Buffy stood on the other side of the adjoining door, breathing heavily, her book clutched to her chest. She had just got majorly turned on by a guy that was supposed to be her brother! She was sick! There really had to be something wrong with her, she told herself as she went back to bed. Flipping on the lamp that she carefully angled so she could read her book and hopefully not disturb Willow, Buffy tried to force herself to concentrate on the words on the page. In the back of her mind, her thoughts were still whirling around, but she knew one thing for certain. Spike had to be her brother, she had to stop thinking about him any other way. She would force him into the role of her brother and then these inappropriate feelings would go away...at least, she hoped so.

My ridiculous avoidance of my feelings went on for almost a week, yet I had no idea Spike was hiding his emotions too. I thought he saw me as his sister, just like he saw Willow, but I was wrong. I was oblivious to the fact that I gave him the same scary feelings that he gave me, and as much as we did the sister-brother thing, arguing over breakfast cereal, throwing sofa cushions at each other, and fighting for the TV remote, there was always this underlying tension. I tried to force myself to see him as just a brother, and it almost worked but eventually, that tension would have to release itself, and that would only make things worse...

To Be Continued...